Bathroom Help

Bathrooms are often overlooked when it comes to making changes within ones house, due to the fact that they cannot provide the same social space that a kitchen or living room can. As a result, people often go to great lengths to make sure that the more sociable rooms are seen as warm and inviting, while being content to allow the bathroom to serve a purely functional role.

Yet the bathroom is much more than simply a place for you and your family to wash and get ready. It is a place for you to take time to prepare for the day ahead, to take time to pamper yourself, to relax and unwind or to escape from the pressures around you. All of this means that you should make sure that you spend some time thinking about the design of your bathroom.

Is it a warm and inviting room, where you would be happy to spend time, or is it cold and badly decorated, so that spending time in there becomes a chore? Readdressing the design in your bathroom need not be an arduous task. Sometimes all it takes is a simply change of colour, or a well-placed mirror or fitting, to completely change the feel of the room.

However, if you are looking to make a larger change to your bathroom then make sure that you think carefully about the steps that you will need to take, and plan each stage of your development thoroughly.

Have a look round for ideas to inspire your own bathroom designs. There is a massive amount of information available, both on the Internet and in various design books that you may wish to take advantage of. Throughout your planning, make sure to keep the bigger picture in mind. For instance, your choice of suite will be affected by the colours of tiles or paint that you decide to use, whilst the fittings that you opt for will depend upon the space you have available.

There are some obvious difficulties to be faced when it comes to drainage and piping within a bathroom, you need to make sure that you are happy with how you want your bathroom to be laid out, before you call in a plumber. You will have to take into account the layout of the pipes in the bathroom, as well as the position of the main soil stack (this is the pipe that your toilet is connected to. It is usually connected through the bathroom wall and can then be found running down the outside of your house). Changing the position of the soil stack is a difficult task to undertake, and you might find that it is more cost effective to leave your toilet where it is. Similarly, you should also think about how the pipe work will function most effectively within your bathroom. Again, it will prove much cheaper and easier to install your pottery if you have the bath, sink and toilet in a line, so that they can be served by continuous water feed pipes within the wall.

Before you start planning your bathroom, there are a number of steps that you will need to take. First of all, you will need to measure out your bathroom (preferably in metric), ten it maybe worth sketching out a rough plan of where you feel you would like your suite and fittings to be placed. Finally, keep in mind what it is you are trying to achieve with your new design, and what problems the current bathroom has that you want to address. Try to bear in mind the following points:

• How will you new bathroom design best serve you? It is a personal room and such you must work to make sure that it reflects the priorities of the users in its layout. You will need to take into account how often the bath or shower will be used, or how much storage space will be needed, and where it will go in conjunction with your other fittings.
• Will the placing of the doors, windows and ventilation areas have any impact upon the layout you have planned?
• Is this going to be the main bathroom? If so, then how many family members will be using it?
• Will any safety provisions need to be made for children? Such as thermostatic bath fillers or thermostatic showers.
• Does your current water system supply enough hot water, at a high enough pressure?
• Do all of your current fittings need replacing, or are some in an acceptable condition?
• Where is the hot water cylinder and airing cupboard and will you and you have easy access to them, after your new bathroom is fitted?
• Are there any features of your current bathroom that you would like to retain? If so, are they easily moveable, or fixed in place?
• Make sure to consider the characteristics of any furniture you wish to use- will you choose to use fitted or freestanding furniture? You will also need to bear in mind such areas as heating, lighting and ventilation. When installing lighting, make sure that it coincides with the installation of any cabinets and fittings, so that wiring can to be hidden behind them. You will also have to ensure that the installation complies with all current legislation.
• Most importantly, consider your budget - how much can you afford to spend, and how will this impact upon the designs that you choose? Have a look around- if you cannot afford a designer brand of a certain style that you like, there are many companies that offer very similar designs for a much-reduced price.

Bathrooms today are usually designed so that many members of a family can use them. In order to achieve such an effect, it is important that certain divisions are made within the room, allowing connected but distinct areas to be used. There are three basic areas to any bathroom:

• The washing area (the sink and any storage area surrounding it)
• The bathing area (bath and/or the shower)
• The sanitary area (the toilet and perhaps a bidet)

In creating such divisions, partitions or doors may help make areas distinct, for instance between a shower area and a toilet area. You might wish to go further than this, and actually create a layout that really emphasises such an independent area, almost separating one zone from the next.

How much space you have available to you is going to play the biggest role when it comes to determining the layout of your bathroom. Even if you have a limited amount of room available, there is no need to despair too much. There are a number of steps that you can take to maximise the space that you have available. You need to ensure that there is adequate space around each of your fittings, so that they can be used effectively, without any obstruction. You need to be able to get in and out of your bathtub without any obstacle, whilst also having unhindered access to your toilet and sink. You should try and leave at least 700mm of space around your bath, and maintain a distance of 1000mm around the toilet and sink if possible.

Space saving measures are discussed in more detail elsewhere (see our small bathrooms section), but can include opting for a shower cubicle instead of a bath, fitting a combination shower bath, using a corner toilet, or using a built in sink, in place of a freestanding one. Simple designs and maximising the use of light will allow you to avoid creating a bathroom that feels less cluttered and disordered.